December j 1931
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Jesus gives the sacred word, The ordinance divine;’ Let us His command obey, And ask and have whate’er we want: Pray ye, every moment pray, And never, never faint. —C harles W esley . DECEMBER 20 “Mercy and truth are met together” (Psa. 85:10). Mercy and truth are partners, sharers in the same enterprise, which is the doing of justice and the establishment of Christ’s kingdom on the earth. Mercy is to temper truth, and truth is to guide mercy. Beware of losing sight of either of them. It is very easy to lose sight of them. Dr. Alexander Maclaren once wrote wisely: “We look at our neighbor’s errors with a miscroscope and at our ow n through the wrong end of the telescope.” We are unmerciful toward others be cause we do not recognize the truth about ourselves, and we are untrue to ourselves because we are not • merciful toward others. Let us provide, in our lives every day, a meeting-place where mercy and truth can sit down together, and view the realities of life in the spirit of love. —A mos R, W ells . DECEMBER 21 “The sin which doth so easily beset us” (Heb. 12:1). What is the besetment, the net, in my reader’s path?. Is it vanity? Is it pride? Is it ill-temper? Is it waste of the talent of time? Is it the lust of other things? Is it a something else which the heart can de scribe only to itself, but which is known to the all-knowing Lord? Nets are cunningly woven. They are formidably strong. Try the revealed experiment of committing them to the Lord. Let self-despair give up all confidence in our own strength, and let humble faith hand over to the great PhysL cian the case we cannot cure. “Lord, I cannot,” and with my “cannot” I embrace Thy “can.” He is able to deliver you froth every net that Satan’s industry and expe rience can weave. Make trial of Him, and you will find that the net is not so much plucked away as dissolved away from about your feet. His blessed strength will so take possession of the heart given up to Him; that you shall walk at liberty, treading on the net, finding the secret of His power. “Lord, my time is in Thy hand, Weak and helpless as I am ; Surely Thou canst make me stand; I believe in Jesus’ name: Saviour in temptation Thou 1 Thou hast saved me heretofore, Thou from sin dost save me now, Thou wilt save me evermore.” “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together” (Rom. 8:17). The Christian’s battlefield is here, but the triumphal procession is above. This is the land of the sword and the spear; that is the land of the wreath and the crown. This is the land of the garment rolled in blood and of the dust of the fight; that is the land o.f the trumpet’s joyful sound, the place of the white robe and of the shout of conquest. Oh, what a thrill of joy shall be —H andley C. G. M oule . DECEMBER 22
CDaily d^evoiionalC0^ea cZ ings A M E S S A G E F O R E V E R Y D A Y O F T H E M O N T H
DECEMBER IS “When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled" (Matt. 2:3). My soul, art thou afraid of the coming of Christ into thy life? Dost thou fear that He will narrow thee? Nay, but He will narrow that which narrows thee. He will not destroy thy love of nature, for He is the crown of nature. He will not dispute thy right to knowledge, for He is the fend of knowledge; but He will expel from thy heart the Herod that imprisons thee. Hast thou forgotten the pool of ■Bethesja? An angel came down to trouble the waters, and then the waters were powerful. Thou, too, shalt be power ful after thou hast been troubled. Think- est thou that the stillness of primeval chaos was a calm? There was no calm till the Spirit moved. Only when the face of the waters is ruffled by the breath of the life divine is the mandate truly heard, “Let there be light.”— G eorge M atheson . DECEMBER 16 “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity” (1 Cor. 13:13). Charity is one of those virtues that walk softly and do their work without os tentation, seeking opportunity to do good and taking occasion to show forbearance toward frailty aiE# failure. When the white snow falls on the earth, it covers seams and rents and blemishes, smooths over rugged rocks and sharp edges, and rough places. There is a ministry for char ity like that of the snow. Life is often rough and coarse; there are fierce expo sures, dark pitfalls, shelterless remorses, memories that speak like thunder and sting like an adder. Try what sympathy and si lence can. do for the crushed sensibilities of those who have failed. Charity is never glad when others go wrong, charity is always slow to expose, always eager to be lieve the best, always hopeful, always pa tient.— J ohn M ac B eath . Rejoice! Though you cannot remove Another’s self-made scars, By silence you can help to keep From notice all that mars; And with your love’s compassion, knit New hope, for that life’s benefit. •—S elected . DECEMBER 17 “Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth!” (Jas. 3:5). It is said that at a certain place in the Alps, travelers are forbidden to talk or sing, lest the reverberation of their words dislodge some avalanche of ice or snow from its pose on the mountain side and send it crashing down into the valley be low. At certain times, it is said, a very tiny disturbance may be sufficient to set in motion forces that no human power can control. So there are situations constantly arising in life when a word thoughtlessly spoken may bring down upon some un
fortunate a whole avalanche of trouble and suffering. A moment’s idle gossip, an un verified scandal, whispered in the ear of some sympathetic listener, may set in mo tion forces that will soon be beyond all human power to curb or to restrain. There is no admonition more needed by all of us than that of the psalmist, “I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue.” —S elected . DECEMBER 18 “God hath chosen the weak things of. the world to confound the things which are mighty” (1 Cor. 1:27). I never yet found pride in a noble na ture, nor humility in an unworthy mind. Of all trees, I observe that God has chosen the vine, a low plant that creeps upon the helpful wall; of all beasts, the soft and patient lamb; of all fowls, the mild and guileless dove. When God appeared to Moses, it was not in the lofty cedar nor the spreading palm, but in a bush—a humble, slender, abject bush—as if He would, by these selections, check the conceited ar rogance of man. Nothing produces love like humility; nothing genders hate like pride. —W esleyan M ethodist . DECEMBER 19 “Let my cry come near before thee, 0 Lord: give me understanding according to thy word” (Psa. 119:169). Prevailing prayer is almost an impossi bility where there is neglect of study of the Word of God. The prayer that is born of meditation upon the Word of God is the prayer that soars upward most easily to God’s listening ear. George Muller, one of the mightiest men of prayer of the present generation, when the hour for prayer came would begin by reading and meditating upon God’s Word, until out of the .study of the Word a prayer began to form itself in his heart. Thus God Himself was the real author of the prayer, and God answered the prayers which He Himself had inspired. If we would feed the fire of our prayers with the fuel of God’s Word, all our dif ficulties in prayer, would disappear. —G athered G ems . Come, ye followers of the Lord, In Jesus’ service join. Never Ceases to Thank God A grateful Correspondence School student writes: “I shall never cease to thank God for leading me to enroll in your school and for what you have done for me.” You, too, may bear this testimony. Complete information is found on the contents page of this issue.
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